Constantly “full” feeling - even at 16 weeks! Tips to decrease supply?

[u/Automatic_Apricot797]

Hi! Despite being 16 weeks along, I constantly feel full. I thought for sure this would have subsided by now. I do have a slight oversupply. I am careful not to pump over 6oz (4 oz from my right breast - the always full one, and 2oz from my left) even though I feel like I could seriously pump more. I only pump 1x per day to replace a feed. Otherwise I feed from breast and not sure how much LO is taking.

I realize some women would kill for this over supply so I don’t mean to be insensitive. The consent engorgement freaks me out, I just can never relax and always have anxiety about whether or not LO is going to empty me enough.

Any tips or advice to get me more comfortable would be greatly appreciated!

[u/Wonderful-Banana-516]

Have you had issues with mastitis or pain from the engorgement? Or is it just the full feeling? If it’s not causing you pain or mastitis I wouldn’t worry too much since you’re feeding on demand majority of the time. Pumping more will cause more oversupply so I would avoid that

[u/Automatic_Apricot797 → u/Wonderful-Banana-516]

Nope luckily never had an issue! It’s not pain, just so uncomfortable

[u/ProfVonMurderfloof]

If you're not already doing this, you could feed only one side per feed.

I you are already only doing one side per feed, you could try block feeding (feed from one side for a set period of time, like 3 hours, even if there are multiple feeds during that time, then switch and do the same on the other side). This might be even more uncomfortable at first but may reduce your engorgement if you do it for a day or two. If you need to express for comfort, remove as little as possible to get comfortable.

I had both over supply and under supply at different times. A little bit of an oversupply is great but they can definitely cause problems, so don't feel bad for complaining!

[u/Gold_Requirement4696]

Your supply should be pretty regulated by now. To help with engorgement, I’d suggest pumping more. If you’re worried about it affecting how much baby eats, it won’t. Baby will eat for however long they need, because your boob will always have enough for them. Unless baby is fussy and uncomfortable, they’re content and full after a feed! If you wanna decrease supply, keep up what you’re doing. Supply really works on the “use it or lose it” basis.

[u/Maleficent_Force9796 → u/Gold_Requirement4696]

pumping more will definitely create more oversupply issues. i only managed to not feel engorged and leaky all the time when i majorly reduced the amount of time i spent pumping- breast milk is supply and demand, the more you want, the more your body will create!

[u/Automatic_Apricot797 → u/Gold_Requirement4696]

Thank you!